With the change in season comes the undeniable need for a change in your equine feeding program. 

The spring brings with it an eagerness of horse people alike to hit the trails, hit the show ring or just get some ground work done.  All of these activities involve a change in the energy required by your horse.

One of the most important things you need to do in order to determine if nutrient changes need to be made, is to “Body Condition Score” your horse.  Body condition tables can be found through a quick search on the internet or by going to http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/horses/facts/98-101.htm.

Should your horse be over weight or under weight according to the body condition score chart, you need to access your feeding program.  Similarly, if your horse is in perfect condition at the start of the season, and you are increasing the work load, you will also need to increase the calories consumed. 

Increasing and decreasing calories should be discussed at lenght with your nutritionist.  Individual horses need individual programs to ensure weight loss, gain, and energy fluctuations are done safely and parallel the new needs of your horse.

Evaluating your work load will also be very helpful in determining what changes need to be made to your program.  In some owners opinions, working for 1/2 an hour a day would be considered “working them hard”.  However to a nutritionist, working them hard would involve elevating their heart rate significantly for an extended period of time.  For example, standardbreds in training jog 3-5 miles per day.  When they are racing they go as hard as they can go several times in preparation for a race (over a period of a few hours), and again during the race.  This would be considered “hard work”.

Making sure both the owner and the nutritionist are talking about the same energy requirement will be very important in evaluating your horses needs.

Lastly (well, not really lastly, but this will be the last point I touch on in this blog) management factors play a large role in the nutritional requirement changes of your horse.  Now that the pasture is getting lush and green, the number of hours your horse spends grazing are very important.  In certain circumstances they may need to be restricted, but for the most part, they are attaining calories that would previously have been consumed in their hay or grain based diets.

Balancing for pasture is important in keeping your horse in the desired condition for your level or work.

Looking for a nutritionist that can make sense of it all for you?  Try www.balancequine.com.  A qualified professional is available to assist you in asking the right questions and formulating the proper diet for your horses needs.

Happy Trails!

Tags: Feeding your horse for the season and your work load, Proper diet formulation is important as seasonal consumption changes